Running Diary: Mets vs Brewers Game 1
October 1, 2024In one of the most shocking twists of 2024, the New York Mets qualified for the postseason. And the way they did it was typical Mets fashion. The first half of September 30th’s double header had it all – brutal Mets incompetence, a sudden rush of hope, a giant crushing letdown, and then, a game winning homerun over their bitter rival. Francisco Lindor hurt his back carrying the Mets for two months but managed to save their ass one more time in 2024. And all this to end up in the Wild Card versus the Milwaukee Brewers, the only team who might own the Mets more than the Braves. Oh good.
If you haven’t seen the game or any of the clips, seriously, watch the last two innings. My poor heart still hasn’t recovered, and it’s either beating 120 beats a minute, or two. I probably should get that checked, but we’ll worry about that after the post season.
Naturally, waking up on October 1st, the first day of the playoffs, my phone was dead. It no longer could access Wi-Fi, makes calls, or really do anything. If this was the sacrifice Grimace demanded for a post season birth, so be it. The problem is, how could I complain about bias calls, poor play and the angry, bitter Mets fans without a phone?
I think you see where we’re going with this.
In a time before everybody had a podcast, and good sports writers weren’t let go from the World Wide Leader of Sports without cause, people wrote articles. One of my favorite writers in the 2000s was Bill Simmons. While many may know Simmons from his podcast, or getting mocked for his outlandish takes on things he shouldn’t talk about, this wasn’t always the case. In the 2000s, Simmons was the brash up and comer mocking the establishment, until he eventually became the establishment. It’s a true Dark Knight Moment – Live long enough, and you too become Mike Francesca.
If you’re not from the Northeast, this opening is really not going to work for you. Let me have this. I’ve been sports suffering for 37 years and I need an outlet.
It’s not fair to compare Simmons to the sports talking heads of old. He innovated with Podcasts, and also has some of the more unique written content of any sports writers. Even better, he avoided being corny way more than anyone of his era. Now, is there some problematic jokes and lines is this old content as a byproduct of the era? Oh yes. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why he doesn’t write anymore (Plus all the money), but now a days, most of his controversaries involve talking about sports he doesn’t know anything about. You can probably see where my inspiration comes from?
To be credit, he’s still pushing out multiple podcasts a week and not falling asleep on camera with a Diet Coke. That’s progress.
In his prime, Simmons had two concepts that I absolutely loved. One was the mailbag, where he’d respond to his reader’s questions. Each question typically became more and more unhinged. We won’t be doing that today because I’ve seen my readers. We’ve also definitely done this multiple times already and pretended it was a unique idea.
The second concept was the running diary during big games. Simmons is an unapologetic homer, but he doesn’t pretend to be neutral. That was always one thing that drew me to his articles. Simmons would complain about anything not going Boston’s way no matter how ridiculous it was. These became a time capsule and a really unique summary of an event. Granted, the playoff clinching game would have been the perfect time for a running diary, but I was pacing and cursing WAY too much to type.
Today, thanks to having a broken phone and a team playing with house money, I present the following running diary of my thoughts during Game 1 of the Mets versus Brewers. Am I just stealing Bill Simmons ideas with no shame? Well, I don’t want to lie to you all.
Let’s get started.
5:30: Oh No. I forgot this is on ESPN. The last time the Mets were on ESPN, the announces did the Chop and cheered for Ohtani. It was Mets versus the Phillies.
5:33: Lindor leading off is bittersweet. It’s great to have him up, but nobody else can possible be on, and then you have to wait eight batters to feel confident again. That’s not fair to many quality hitters in the Mets lineup, but it’s also extremely kind to a couple. You know who you are.
5:34: ESPN mentioned Lindor missed nine games and how much the Mets missed him. They of course forget to mention that Acuna filled in and did a fantastic Lindor impression and was a key cog in making the playoffs. Ah well, I’m sure that’s not important.
5:35: Lindor strikes out. The series is over.
5:40: Maybe we’ll hit a ball out of the infield this series. No pressure though.
5:43: Why are the Brewers’ foul balls so much scarier than the Mets’? All of the Mets’ go eight feet from home plate while the Brewers fire off lasers.
5:44: Wonderful start. A ground ball not cleanly fielded ends up being a double. Ideal even.
5:45: And then the softest single possible that would have a double play if the first batter didn’t wind up on Second. Well, probably not a double play because every Brewer is Usian Bolt.
5:46: Now it’s three straight grounders leading to the game’s first run. All of these could have been outs if the Mets had even slight luck on their side. Is this going to be one of those games? You know, the infuriating ones.
5:48: Strike 3 is called a ball which is brutal given the circumstances.
5:49: Severino tells me to sit down and strikes outs the batter on the next pitch.
5:50: Now a 4 pitch walk with nothing that close to the plate. Severino is angry at the ump for being squeezed which is ridiculous, but I appreciate his anger, since I’m angry too. Bases loaded and one out. Need a double play badly.
5:51: Hey, a foul out pop up to the catcher. I’ve seen that 4,000 times from the Mets with the bases loaded.
5:52: The Mets hit Rhys Hoskins with the bases loaded to force in a run. This seems bad, but it actually might be a blessing. Hoskins completely owns the Mets and he actually hit a grand slam in the first inning last Friday against them. I’m not pro free runs, but I think this could have been 5-0 and a very short write up otherwise.
5:54: The inning ends. 2-0 after the first. I should feel utterly hopeless with this start but I’m not defeated? Is this my white flag moment? We’ll see soon enough.
5:56: Mark Vientos continues to keep a grapple on the 3rd base job for 2025 while Brett Baty sheds a single tear.
5:58: Pete Alonso really needs to have a big series and turn some of the narratives around on him. It’s need a rough series so far.
5:59: He drew a walk. Can’t really complain about that.
6:00: Jesse Winker is one of the few lefty bats the Mets have and had only popped up to the infield since September 15th. It’s a very deep slump. He’s the 6th hitter in the postseason.
6:02: Winker looks the cameraman in the eye, tells Bloggin Hood to go screw himself with a rusty knife and laces a triple. I love being wrong in real time about the Mets.
06:03: A Brewers player takes exception to a Mets player succeeding and yells at Winker for showing joy for a 2 run RBI triple in the postseason. Yep, that makes sense.
06:05: Sterling Marte does the unthinkable – Drives in a runner on 3rd with less than 2 outs. Wasn’t that far from hitting a homer. That was good hitting. This has been an impressive bounce back inning from the Mets, and it’s 3-2.
6:06: The Brewers are warming up a reliever. In the top of the second. That’s aggressive, but I suppose it’s the post season.
6:07: What the hell is the win probability on ESPN? The Mets are winning 3-2 and have 45% odds to win? They are actively winning the game!
6:09: Mets don’t do anything else but had the Brewers ace threw over 30 pitches. Hopefully the bats are alive more than the last time they were in Milwaukee… which was less than 48 hours ago. It’s fine. It’s totally fine.
6:15 – Despite a double, Severino gets out of the second with no damage. I don’t think he looked that bad in the first despite all the baserunners, but not giving up the lead back is good.
6:16: During the commercial break, the MLB is rude and doesn’t award the Mets an additional 30 runs as a sign of goodwill. Corrupt ass league.
6:20: Lindor and Iglesias hit bullets that are both outs. Baseball is one of the cruelest sports in the world. You can hit a 110 MPH rocket for an out, or you can hit three consecutives soft grounders for hits and score a run in the top of the first. I’m not mad at all at how the game started.
6:22: Not a good start for Nimmo in this game given the Brewers’ starter has very bad splits against lefties. But he gets a pass after his homer in the playoff clinching game, For now.
6:26: The Brewers are quickly reminding me of the 2015 Royals, which is not a fun memory. They don’t swing at balls. Four consecutive close pitches on 0-2 were taken for a lead up walk.
6:29: Do they ever swing and miss? Like seriously.
6:31: Christian Yellich has been interviewed for roughly 38 minutes and hasn’t taken a breath.
6:33: An incredibly clutch double play avoids any further damage. Severino is dancing around runs. I don’t know if he can keep it up, but I’ve seen most of the Mets’ bullpen. He’ll have to survive a couple more innings and then hopefully Butto can go for a few.
6:36: ESPN interviews the Mets manager during the 4th inning as opposed to, oh, I don’t know, anyone not playing. Christian Yellich is out for the year. Seems unbiased and reasonable.
6:37: Alonso doing a great job of swinging at a virtual unhittable hit on the first pitch and grounds out to 3rd. In 2024, that’s been Alonso’s biggest problem.
6:38: The Mets batters are retired before the commercial break is over.
6:43: Another leadoff double. These are going to come back to haunt us eventually.
6:44: Brewers are upset at a strike three called down the middle. I don’t quite understand this one.
6:48: Seriously, Brewers, you guys can swing and miss at any time.
6:48: I’m starting to really despise Brice Tuang. He has six doubles in his first three at bats.
6:49: Mets allow the tying run and an extra base to the hitter for not covering second. The biggest difference in the two teams so far is the quality of at bats and the speed. Feels like the Brewers have a ton of speed and the Mets have Lindor, Nimmo (kind of) and Acuna on the bench. Huge moment now to keep the game tied with Contreas up.
6:52: Ends in a sac fly, Brewers take the lead back 4-3. Mets really need another solid inning at bat because the Brewers are going to score.
6:54: Back to back political commercials. Please, give me the gambling ads instead.
6:55: Brewers have pulled their starter. My understanding is their pen is great so this makes sense in a three game series.
6:56: Marte misses a homerun by inches. The announcers made a big deal about the defensive play. The Brewers jumped a bit. This is the defensive play that always gets hyped up when it seems unnecessary. Marte missed two homers so far by a few feet each time.
6:58: On the next at bat, the same fielder had an easy play and miss played it allowing a Mets double. He again jumped with didn’t seem necessary. Both Mets hitters have smoked balls thus far.
6:58: As if on queue, Francisco Alvarez swings at the first pitch for a lazy fly out. The Mets keep doing this where they’re way too aggressive. I’m not saying wait until two strikes to swing, but the team was smoking the ball. Wait for a pitch to smash.
7:00: Lindor walks. I’d be surprised if he gets anything to hit with runners on.
7:01: Iglesias beats out a grounder to first by sprinting his ass off and Taylor manages to score from 2nd. Incredible hustle from a team infamous for not doing these things in the past. I can’t say enough for Iglesias who’s been absolutely incredible after being nearly out of baseball. I don’t think he was even mentioned by name yet on ESPN.
7:04: New pitcher for the Brewers. Seems like every reliever the Mets have faced the past 2 games has a 0.15 WHIP and haven’t given up a run since the Obama administration.
7:05: Nimmo gets on with the Brewers’ first inning special and the bases are loaded. I’ve begun to pace while Megan eats dinner. She’s not impressed.
7:06: Mark Vientos, in his first playoff game, drives in two off of the first pitch on a line drive. During everything down the stretch, Vientos has looked cool and calm no matter what.
7:08: The Brewers intentionally walk Pete Alonso, preventing me from making up a ridiculous stat about his clutch numbers.
7:09: JD Martinez comes up to face the lefty for Winker. An obviously sub and Martinez, who’s been in a ice cold slump, seemed to break out of it.
7:11: Martinez comes through and drives in two more runs on probably a bullshit hit, but when it happens for the Mets, for some reason it seems earned. Why is that?
7:12: Marte walks on 4 noncompetitive pitches and the bases are loaded again. The Brewers bullpen is struggling in the inning after the hype.
7:13: I reviewed the Mets bullpen and grew even more nervous than before.
7:15: Taylor hits a bullet but right at the center fielder. Mets scored 5 runs, all with 2 outs, and mostly thanks to the Iglesias hustle to keep the inning going. 8-4 Mets
7:17: An ESPN Betting commercial appears. Please, give me the political ads.
7:19: A clear, down the middle strike is called a ball. Awesome.
7:20: Severino battles back and strikes out the hitter while the Win Probability goes down for the Mets by 18%.
7:21 – A very solid 5th inning from Severino and a much needed 1-2-3.
7:27 – The top of the 6th is very quiet, although I thought Lindor hit a homerun (It was a replay from Monday). You’d think the daylight versus the darkness would have been a tip, but it was not.
7:33: A graphic about the Mets big September doesn’t contain Lindor, Vientos, Iglesias. What is this? Did they pick the players out of a hat.
7:36: A great bounce back from Severino to get through six innings and conserve some bullpen.
7:40: ESPN takes shots at Grimace. I’m the most offended I’ve ever been. Put some respect on his name.
7:41: The Brewers seem afraid of Alonso. I guess they haven’t watched any tape from the last 24 months.
7:42: ESPN purposely go out the way to jinx the Mets and talking about current playoff trends. AFTER INSULTING GRIMACE. This is abhorrent.
7:43: A quiet top of the 7th, but the Mets hit two balls relatively hard. Seems like they’ve had solid bats from the 3rd inning on.
7:47: ESPN films a skit where Mr Met is decapitated by the sausages that race in Milwaukee from during the 5th inning. The announcers then team up and shout “Go Brew Crew hooray!”. Then then say they apologize for showing a Met highlight and invite Bobby Bonilla for an inning in the booth.
7:48: Jose Butto comes in as the Mets 2nd pitcher. I wonder if he’ll end up becoming a bullpen arm as opposed to returning to the rotation. The Mets need starters, but Butto’s been great in his role.
7:51: A nice 1-2-3 inning from Butto in his postseason debut.
7:55: ESPN tries to explain advanced stats but then use terms like “He’s a good defender” to immediately undermine the attempt.
7:56: Rather than talk about the game, the announcers discuss the sausage race and one asks for an Impossible sausage to enter the race. I hate to break the news, but none of the costumes are edible. The Polish Sausage gets mocked for falling with video footage. Brutal.
Fun fact, the person in that costume? – Chase Utley.
7:57: The Mets choose not to participate in the top of the 8th.
8:00: The Mets are called for a pitch clock violation, which is an auto ball, and totally disrupts the first batter of the inning. Cool cool cool.
8:01: The announcers mention this is Mets playoff appearance since 2022… which means the Mets missed the playoffs for one season. The implication is that the Mets have been on a disastrous drought. Fortunately, there are no teams in New York ending in -ets suffering through this.
8:02: No, I’m not ready, nor ever ready to discuss the Jets. I only have so much fight in me.
8:02: A clear check swing strike leads to complaints from the Brewer fans. I guess they also disagreed with the 1st inning strike three called a ball that could have prolonged the inning. Butto gets a strike three called after, which is called a pitcher’s pitch. This was a definitive strike on ESPN’s zone that they immediately try to discredit as a break from the Ump.
8:05: Butto gets the 3rd out on a swinging strikeout. The ump considers calling in a ball due to ESPN’s pressure but decides to give the Mets a break by following the established rules of baseball.
8:09: The Mets speedrun how to end an inning as quickly as possible in impressive fashion. To the bottom of the 9th we go, and I can start getting a good nervous pace in.
8:13: As the 9th inning begins, the announcers makes sure to state how well the Mets bullpen has done to try and jinx theme and Buster Onley puts on a rally cap while continuously trying to adjust the Brewers score.
8:18: Ryne Stanek pitches a solid 1-2-3 and the Mets win 8-4. The ESPN announcers audibly shout, “BULL SHIT!” and “DO IT OVER YOU BITCHES!” but the only person who agrees with their complains is MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred.
8:23: ESPN’s players of the game: The Polish Sausage, Shohei Ohtani, Christian Yellich, Mayor McCheese.
And there you have it, a running diary of Game 1. I don’t think I physically have it in me for Game 2, but we’ll see. All things are possible through Grimace.
I’m crying laughing here, well done